


The Cougar Way

by Rachael Sabotini (wickedwords)



Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: Chromatic Yuletide, First Time, M/M, Mild D/s, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Miscommunication, Yuletide, Yuletide 2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:57:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2798699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wickedwords/pseuds/Rachael%20Sabotini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Cougar is not a vampire, and things do not go to hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cougar Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AngeNoir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngeNoir/gifts).



> Many thanks to Gwyn, who made the story a lot better. A ton of thanks for that. Thanks as well to Movies_Michelle, who gave me a final proofing pass as I made it just in time to the deadline. You both rock.

"They think he's a vampire, Pooch. It's the only thing that makes sense." Jensen scans the hallway, looking for movement. "He's quick, he's smart, he's deadly. He had to be the guy sneaking in here and fucking with their organization, picking them off one by one."

"Vampires aren’t real." Pooch sweeps around Jake and runs straight for the large set of double doors at the end of the hall. "Unlike creepy labs run by mad scientists." He kicks the door open. "Those fucking things are real."

"Tell me about it." Jake double-checks to make sure the noise didn't attract anyone that might cut off their retreat, even though he's pretty sure anyone living has hightailed it out of the facility by now. He follows Pooch down the hall and skids into the room at the end. 

This place. Man. The whole compound is one horrorsville setting after another. Maybe this room had started off as a ballroom, maybe it had been a library. Whatever, that history is gone. Pooch called it -- this is one creepy lab. 

"Just like a Hammer film. Only with more shit." There's glass and metal everywhere from broken medical equipment, crunching underfoot with each step Jake takes. They’re making a huge amount of noise, and it sounds like an ice storm. There's broken furniture scattered around, and the remnants of some electronic systems, making it look like Frankenstein's lab after the angry mob came by. Which really isn't so far off, come to think of it. "Really glad they went old-school horror, rather than slasher," Jake mutters. 

The place stinks of mold, rot, and decomp, with a few chemicals thrown in for good measure. The fake doctor Clay interrogated claimed that this was the vampire's lair.

"Let's bring in some more light, shall we?" Pooch heads to the closest window and pulls down the blackout curtain. The sharp tug tears something, and the fabric slides off the rod, landing in a pool of sunlight and dust.

Light streams into the room, and Jake looks around -- the place is much bigger than he thought. Maybe operating theater is a better term, or circus of the bizarre. Four distinct “operating rooms” are set up with Visqueen, and some look like they still might have bodies in them. 

"Please don't let any of them be Cougar," Jake whispers. Cougar disappeared on a solo mission a month ago, leaving behind his sniper rifle and his hat. 

"Be positive. It's not Cougar." Pooch hits Jake on the arm. "He's not dead. He's the fucking vampire, right?"

Jake nods. "Right. The vampire." There's a noise from the far end of the building, and Jake catches Pooch's gaze. They should check it out.

Pooch shivers. "God, I hate this place. It's--."

"Creepy, yeah. I know." Jake passes the first operating area -- four walls of plastic, and not much to make it sterile -- and can't help ducking inside just to verify that Cougar isn't there. There's a table with some sheets on it, but nothing else. He glances over at Pooch as he ducks back out. "Hey, why don't we set this place on fire once we get Cougar out?"

"Great idea, except knowing us, it would probably spread." Pooch meets Jake's gaze and nods, sliding through the curtain to check the next operating room. "Not in here, either. At least he didn't end up as one of Dr. Cyberjerk's failed experiments."

His stomach is roiling, thinking about Cougar being on the table. "Hey, hey," Jake says. "Never tempt fate."

Pooch snorts. "We're Losers, asshole. We always tempt fate."

Jake gestures right and Pooch heads left, toward the third operating room. 

As Jake approaches the last room, he feels someone watching him; he pulls up and scans it in depth. Someone is pressed deep into the shadows, so deep he's almost impossible to see. It's got to be Cougar. Jake's heart beats faster as he breaks into a trot.

The figure quickly resolves into Cougar's beautiful form. He's dressed in scrub pants and tennis shoes, and nothing else. But Jake can make out the tattoos and the hair and the scars and everything that says “Cougar” to him. 

God, he missed Cougar so damn much. "Hey, Alverez, it's me." 

The figure doesn't move, maintaining his position. Jake worries that something's wrong.

"Are you dead, Cougar?" he yells, sprinting over to him. "Tell me you're okay."

"You found him?" Pooch yells at him from the other side of the room. 

"No shit." Jake slows down as he gets closer. "Cougar?"

Cougar comes slowly out of the shadows, staring up at Jake. His pupils are blown, leaving only a small ring of color around them. Even in the dim light, Jake can see that Cougar didn't get away completely unscathed -- there are fresh bruises along his arms and ribs, and an old gash alongside his head. He's breathing, but he hasn't said a thing -- which isn't unusual, but he should have at least made some comment about what took them so long to find him. 

He just keeps staring at Jake, and a slow smile crosses his face as he walks. When he reaches Jake, he curls his hand possessively around Jake's wrist. "You made it."

"Sorry it took so long." It's not like there was much of a battle here, maybe two dozen mercs and a couple of cooks, and Dr. Cyberjerkface. "It wasn't like the guy was a Bond villain."

A flicker of confusion crosses Cougar's face. 

"Dr. No. Goldfinger. Those guys." Cougar's probably hungry. Probably dehydrated too. He tends to forget the physical necessities at times. "I tracked the money and it led us here." Jake uses his free hand to pat himself down, finding the stupid-ass protein bar squashed into a solid ball in his back pocket. "Here, take this." He holds the bar out, but Cougar doesn't let go of his hand.

"Okay," Cougar says again, his voice a low whisper that rolls out and wraps around Jake like a silk tie. He pushes the bar away with his free hand. "Not that crap." He leans forward, and slides his hands up Jake's face, holding him. "You."

Cougar's lips are rough and dry, his breath stinks a little, and his goatee is scratchy, but that doesn't matter. Jake feels something click inside him, like a power switch on the computer. This is something he's wanted for a long time, and he can't believe he can have it. If Cougar really is a vampire, Jake is happy to give him whatever he needs. He presses in as Cougar pulls him forward, ghosting his hands down Jake's neck and letting his long fingers rest on his collarbone. 

Cougar pulls back from the kiss, licking his lips like he can taste Jake on them. "Much better."

If Jake could fan himself, he would. There's just something about that tone that gets to him, each time Cougar uses it, no matter how inappropriate the situation. It started when they were working together in the doll factory in Bolivia, so it's not anything new. Cougar would speak, and Jake would want. He wants so hard, his whole body tightens with need, and he's not sure there's a polite way for it to get unknotted. 

After a month of missing Cougar like crazy, it looks like something might finally be going his way, so he better make sure that Cougar is all right first. "Hey Pooch, grab one of those curtains, will ya? I think Cougar's in shock."

"Right." As Pooch walks over to the drapes, his steps echoing in the empty room, Jake hears him make contact with the rest of the team. "We found him. Creepy lab. Possible experimental subject. Alive." 

Fuck. Jake whips his head around to look at Cougar. "Did they experiment on you?"

Cougar tips his head, and Jake finds his expression easy to read: They tried. They died. He kept coming back to kill more.

"Well, that's okay then. Those fuckers deserved to die."

Cougar nods in agreement.

While Pooch reports in, Jake runs his hand along Cougar's chest, back and arms, making sure that there's no big gaping wound that he can't see in this miserable light. Cougar lets Jake check that he is still in one piece, tilting his head left then right at the pressure from Jake's hand, rolling his eyes at the process.

Jake picks out some scratches on Cougar’s hands, rope abrasion and a couple of possible puncture wounds in his wrist and some at his neck. Reflexively, Jake takes a deep breath and sighs in relief. Infection looks like the worst possibility, and that's something they can deal with at the hotel, once they get back to some sort of civilization. He hands his water bottle to Cougar and watches him drink.

A big fold of fabric flops over Jake's head. "Here."

Jake pulls it off and glares up at Pooch. "Asshole." He holds out the fabric to Cougar, who turns his head away. 

Fine. He drops the curtain onto the floor and stands, holding his hand out to Cougar, his intention clear: he isn’t letting Cougar go again.

Cougar glances at Pooch and shrugs, taking Jake's hand. He's willing to go along, at least for a while.

"Let's get the fuck out of this asylum," Pooch says. "The others are on their way."

* * *

Cougar curls up against Jake's side in the Humvee, digging in a little for extra warmth. Jake wraps an arm around him, pulling him in tight, happy to share his body heat. Aisha glances at him, then at Clay, but she says nothing. It’s pretty clear that Cougar is wiped, and there's an unstated pact between all of them to let him sleep.

The last month must have been a nightmare. At least Cougar was able to rescue some of the victims, and sneak them out of the facility before they could be made into spare parts for some of the world's wealthiest scumbags. 

Staring out of the vehicle, taking in a little of the rocky, mountainous goat path that Pooch is using as a road, Jake realizes that it's the first time since Cougar was taken that he can finally relax. He doesn't start shaking, he doesn't fall apart -- that's not his style. But he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will volunteer to go with Cougar next time. No more solo missions ever again.

* * *

The city is falling under the spell of night by the time they arrive. They get to sleep in an actual hotel this time, rather than a safe house or former bordello or some godforsaken rat trap. It's not a high end hotel with Egyptian cotton multiple-hundred-thread-count sheets, but a clean one -- one with really good rates. 

Cougar hisses as Jake pulls away to get out of the vehicle, but it sounds more startled than pained. 

"Get him inside," Clay says, nodding at Cougar. "If he can't walk, get Pooch to help."

Cougar raises his head, and his eyes flash with anger. "I can walk." He jerks away from Jake and opens the door, swinging his legs out and jumping down to the ground. He holds his arms wide and spins in a circle slowly. "No trouble. Just..." His words fall off to nothing as he gazes at Jake.

"Food and a shower," Jake supplies. Damn, but Cougar looks good. There's a glow to him that just makes his skin shine in the night, highlighting the muscles in his arms and abdomen, pulling Jake's attention down to his lower anatomy. He looks good -- hot -- and it's hard to believe that he has been running around the jungle for a month.

Cougar catches him looking, and pushes his hat up, locking onto Jake's gaze like the laser sight of a rifle. Cougar's gaze is hypnotic, mesmerizing, drawing him in.

Jake's throat tightens, latching his breath inside his chest for a moment, making it impossible to breathe. Damn, Cougar is attractive. Jake can feel the hair lifting at the back of his neck, as a gut-wrenching explosion of wantneedheat sizzles up and down his spine.

Cougar's eyes flash with a golden tinge, making him look predatory and alien. Then the hat goes back down, shading his eyes, and Jake finds himself dry-mouthed and hard, staring at Cougar's ass as he heads into the building. 

He shakes his head, getting himself centered. What the hell was going on with Cougar's eyes? "Did anyone else see that?"

The others ignore him, Clay and Aisha absorbed in each other as they head inside while Pooch finds a place to park. 

Jake isn't ready to go inside yet. He watches Pooch maneuver the motored behemoth into a supremely tiny space while his thoughts drift. 

He's pretty sure that nothing's going to happen until Cougar gets some sleep, and he needs a couple of minutes to cool down before he heads to his room. There's a part of him that's flailing around inside, wondering if Cougar might really be a vampire and what the hell he can do about it, while another part is yelling at himself that this is all his fault. 

In Bolivia, they'd shared an apartment, a job, girls -- you name it. The only step they hadn't taken was the one that would put them in the same bed together, alone. Oh, Jake had wanted to, but he had never even thought about asking Cougar if he felt the same way -- either in Bolivia or in the States. He assumed that Cougar wasn't interested, and tried to give Cougar space.

He's such a fucking idiot at times. For a man who prides himself on his stories and words, he's coming up empty now. His mind just swirls around one thought like a ship in a whirlpool: that kiss was fantastic and he wants to do it again.

The vampirism thing is a fantasy, he knows that. But the kiss, wow, that could be real. Maybe he should just follow Cougar's lead and let his actions speak for him. Silence is strength, right? That's the Cougar way.

* * *

Inside, the hotel is all neutral carpeting and earth-tone walls, with accents in hunter green. The place is a testament to the minimalist aesthetic of the 1990s, with a big mahogany desk for check-in. Why anyone would renovate a building and choose that palette is beyond him. Still, the bamboo screens, abundance of real plants, and indoor fountain make the place somewhat soothing, a far cry from the bizarre laboratory ruin that they hit at dawn today.

Jake sits on the arm of the overstuffed chair in front of the fountain, and then slides into the seat. The chair is actually pretty comfortable. He swings one leg over the other arm and sprawls against the back. Yeah, he might like this place after all. 

Clay swipes at his foot, knocking it off the chair. "Get up." He holds out a card key. "Cougar's already in the room. You're bunking with him tonight."

Jake claps his hand to his chest, intent on making a dramatic point, and then he catches the look that Clay is giving him. "Okay." He flicks the card key out of Clay's hand. "You are such a cheapskate."

"You're just gonna be in Cougar's room anyway, Jensen. No sense paying for two," Aisha says as she passes him, and tugs on Clay's arm. "Dinner first."

"You buying?" Clay's voice rumbles with a slightly dirty drawl as they head down the hall. He gives Jake a casual wave. "Your stuff is already there."

"You could at least give me the room number, asshole." Jake yells after them. 

"One fifteen. I'm in one sixteen, and they're in one twenty." Pooch slaps Jake on the shoulder. "You gotta pay attention when he's talking." He gives Jake a shake, and then drops his hand. "Besides, Clay's right. You'd be there most of the night anyway."

"Fine," Jake grouses. "But nobody better have messed with my stuff. The electronics can be touchy."

"So you say, every damned time we stay someplace you didn't check out first. Enjoy setting up your satellite uplink, or whatever it is. I have my evening planned." Pooch gives him an incredibly unsubtle wink. "I am making one long phone call home."

"Callin' your mama," Jake says in a sing-song voice. 

Pooch flips him off. "Callin' Jolene." He heads down the hallway for his own room, calling over his shoulder. "And having a shower. You should try it Jensen, 'cuz you stink."

Jake's stuff is piled neatly in the seating area, along with the clean clothes that Aisha brought for Cougar, the hat sitting at a rakish angle on top. There's a desk with a not terrible black office chair, a spindly table with a couple of matching wooden chairs -- each with its own flowered seat cushion -- a couch, a dresser, and a tiny kitchenette. The couch looks like it folds out to a second bed, and there's enough space that he could set up a complete surveillance system if he wanted -- which he doesn't, because the job is over, and Cougar is back with him again.

It strikes him then: the nightmare is over. He doesn't have to set anything up. He can just -- lock the door. They are on the road again tomorrow, and then onto a private plane out of this place and back to the States. He doesn't have anything specific to do. He can just ...go to bed.

It takes him a moment to think about that.

He stares at the couch, then at the bedroom. Okay, see, he could lie to himself and say he would sleep on the couch, but it looks really uncomfortable. Or he could tell himself the truth and say he'd rather spend the night with Cougar, whether sex was on offer or not. He really missed the guy, and there's a part of him that still doesn't believe that Cougar's back.

And what if Cougar's really a vampire, huh? What happens then? 

It's the thought of clean water and clean skin that gets him moving again. After locking the door, he strolls into the bedroom all casual like. Cougar is already clean and sprawled out on the bed, underwear on. He looks up at Jake as he peeks into the bedroom, and scoots over a little, leaving room. 

"I'm grabbing a shower," Jake says, hitching a thumb at the bathroom door. He attempts to lean against the wall in a confident, sexy fashion, but sort of misses the wall and hits the garbage can. "Ow."

Cougar grins, one of the large ones where you can see his teeth. It's a little predatory, and makes Jake sweat. "Shower fast."

"Yeah, of course."

Once the bathroom door is shut, Jake leans back against it and carefully, quietly bangs his head into the wood. "Yeah, of course," he mutters. "That’s a real ringing endorsement of sexual attraction. I am such a freaking idiot." 

He skims out of his clothes and leaves his glasses on the counter, then turns on the water to see how warm it is. The bathroom immediately gets steamy.

Oh yeah, right. Cougar had just showered. He really isn’t on his best game. He's all over the board tonight, but Cougar looks alert and interested. So maybe they really are going to do this tonight, if he can just get himself under control, and not let a little thing like…potentially being a vampire's next meal…get in the way.

His stomach growls at him, and god, he's suddenly so freaking hungry. Maybe if he had some food, he’d be able to deal with all of this…stuff better. He pushes aside the shower curtain and yells out, "Hey, get us something to eat, will ya?" 

Cougar yells something back, but the water obscures the words. Probably something akin to "get it yourself, you fucker" and doesn’t that put images in his head? He has to take a couple of deep breaths, and thinks about setting the water to cold, but he’s not that much of a masochist. 

Submissive, maybe, sometimes, on rare occasion. Masochist, no.

The shower wall has a dispenser with ginger-scented shower gel and shampoo. He squirts some in his hand and takes a deep sniff. It's not something that he'll mind smelling like tomorrow. 

Particularly not if he's dead.

Cougar opens the door to the bathroom and leans against the doorway. Jake can't see much without his glasses, especially with the shower curtain in the way. Still, Jake is pretty sure that Cougar looks hot.

There's the clink of a bottle being set by the sink. "I raided the fridge." 

Jake's mouth goes dry, and okay, that's it. He's clean enough. Cougar's left him a Bohemia and a packet of peanuts. "Looks like dinner to me."

He doesn't bother dressing, just wraps the towel around his waist after he dries off. He grabs the beer and rips open the nuts; it's a better dinner than he's had on several occasions and makes a fine last meal. 

Cougar is sprawled out on the bed again, completely naked this time, and Jake itches to go over there and rub his face over every inch of him.

Cougar is looking at him the exact same way, like he was the dessert tray at the end of the buffet. Fear sends a jolt of adrenaline through him, but Jake wrestles it to the ground. He decides the look's a little unsettling, but it's a really good sort of unsettling, one that twists up his insides in all sorts of pleasant ways. "What do you want, Cougar?"

Cougar lets his gaze rove over Jake's body appreciatively, and then looks directly at Jake. He arches an eyebrow, a whisper of a question.

Jake responds enthusiastically "Oh, yeah, I most certainly would." He dives onto the bed and crawls over to Cougar, who is sort of laughing at him, as if any man with a hard-on would laugh about sex. 

Cougar pulls Jake down and rolls on top of him. There's no more time for words as he lays claim to Jake's body, pulling the towel off and letting it fall open. He presses Jake down into the bed, nibbling at his lips, opening them up and delving inside. It's much, much better than the earlier kiss. 

Running his hands over Jake's body, Cougar maps every scratch and bruise on him, just as Jake had run his hands over Cougar earlier. He growls low at the evidence of the rescue written on Jake's skin, and presses Jake's wrists over his head and down onto the bed. "Stay." 

"Not a dog."

Cougar smirks. "You're gonna stay anyway."

The way that Cougar is looking at him makes Jensen press his body up, but he leaves his wrists anchored on the bed. Cougar draws a line from his neck to his chest, then leans over and presses a kiss against the first bruise he finds. He measures two fingers over, and bites down on the skin, leaving a second bruise of his own. "Mmm, better."

"Fuck, yeah," Jake agrees, his mind in a whirl. It hurts, but it makes his cock thob.

Cougar notices. "Shhh." He fists Jake's cock, and Jake arches into Cougar's grasp. He's flying high, his body pounding with want, but he doesn't know where to begin.

Cougar leans in, his breath warm against Jake's ear. "Touch me."

It's like a direct line to his cock. Oh, shit, yeah. He needs to touch Cougar right now, and wraps his hand around the shaft.

Cougar's uncut. Jake already knows that, since he's seen Cougar's dick before, but he never thought about what that meant for sex. He's seen what the girls did with Cougar, how they rolled the foreskin back to reveal the head. He just has to do what they did, simple, right?

There's a sample bottle of ginger-scented lotion sitting on the nightstand; Cougar must have raided the bathroom when he took the first shower. It's nice and slick, and feels good in his hand. He delicately slides his hand up and strips down the foreskin, hoping that he's doing it right.

Cougar laughs his “crazy Jensen” laugh. "Like this." He fists Jake's dick, stroking up and down with more force, circling the head with his thumb. "Try."

Jake gets it this time. He slides his hand up and over the head, feeling how slick and soft it is. Cougar makes pleasant noises at this and spreads his legs wider, giving Jake more access, while at the same time he twists around so he can get a better grip on Jake as well.

It's good. It's very good. They get into a rhythm that builds, and Jake growls and pants with delight. Cougar bites him on the neck hard, and it's Jake's turn to laugh -- not a vampire at all, just a demon in bed. Cougar spills himself over Jake's hand with a guttural groan.

Cougar kisses Jake quiet as Jake's body tightens up with need, spilling mindless sounds into Cougar's mouth as he comes. Cougar cleans them both off with the towel and flings it onto the ground, pulling Jake into his arms after.

It feels good. It feels right. Cougar's warmth surrounds him as he turns out the light.

* * *

Someone pounds on the door, waking up Jake. He slips out of Cougar’s arms, fumbling to pull on a T-shirt as he heads for the surveillance monitor. He sees who it is, and with a growl, unlocks the door. "Yes?"

Pooch takes one look at him and face-palms. "Seriously? You know you’re naked right?"

"Hey, I got a shirt. And the boys need to be free."

Pooch shakes his head. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one."

"Fuck you. Plans changed. Wheels up in thirty, so get your shit together."

Jake glances back toward the bedroom, and sees Cougar's hat sitting on the couch with all of his stuff. He looks back at Pooch and gives him the most shit-eating grin he possesses. "Already done."

The End.


End file.
